Beyond O’Riordan: Balancing Anthropocentrism and Ecocentrism

Two papers about environmentalism by O’Riordan (1989, 1990) have been particularly influential in the development of conceptualisations of environmental education (Fien, 1993a; Sterling, 1993). The present authors argue that O’Riordan’s analysis takes insufficient account of cultural pluralism, misplaces socialist positions within its overall conceptual frame, and is generally incomplete by virtue of its failure to incorporate a position which balances the anthropocentric and the ecocentric. An alternative view of environmentalism, which may contribute to a basis for thinking about environmental education, is outlined.